Harmon Shops Open House RETURNS October 5th

NET: Good report on your visit to the Croton-Harmon Shop Open House...
I have attended some in the past - 2008 and before as previously mentioned...

I noticed that you posted a CH Shop video ...I tried to post in this topic a video from Long Island's own
"Retired Railfan Horn Guy" of his Open House visit but was not able to get the YouTube link to work...

I wanted to mention something coming to mind from my past CH Open House visits - there were some
hard-core (best description) "Rail Enthusiasts" that would give other visitors a hard time especially at
or around the equipment on display at times in the subject of rail photography...The MNCR staff could
only do so much with the high volume of patrons that past CH Open Houses had...

Previous CH Open Houses were not restricted in term of how long anyone stayed on the premises
between the official opening and closing times...With the new staggered entrance times and visit limits
imposed it seems many enthusiast-types ended up trainspotting at Croton-Harmon Station for longer
periods...Were any MTA Police officers around at the time that you were there doing "crowd control"?

In closing MNCR should make the Croton-Harmon Shop Open House an annual event again...MACTRAXX

I found everyone actually at the shop proper were pretty well behaved, most people were good about avoiding being in shots and apologized if they accidentally wandered in. Big public events I don't expect to get perfect, people-free shots anyways. There's only so much space to put so many people, and it's a public event not a closed photo shoot.

I do agree on the younger foamers at the station platforms being a little "extra". I took the time to grab some photos and video while waiting for our Empire Service back, but stayed behind the yellow line and away from the narrow parts of the platform. While the MTA PD were at the bag check, they were not actively patrolling the platforms. That said, the group loitering on our platform did get scolded by a conductor on a passing train to stay back, but they mostly ignored then mocked him as the train passed through. At least we did not have long of a wait and were happy to get back on the train and away from the obnoxiousness lol.

NaugyRR wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2024 9:58 am

NH2060 wrote: ↑Sun Oct 06, 2024 8:34 am Now the question is: just how much money do I fork over to Rapido in exchange for those Shoreliners and FL9s…

I bought a set each of the CT and MTA Shoreliners direct from Rapido during their initial run. I want to say it was $300 per set (2 coaches and 1 cab per set). I own 1 each of the original run McGinnis and Beach Ball FL9's, but bought them from eBay after they were out of production and before I knew they were going to do another production run.

I highly suggest ordering from TrainWorld. Based out of Brooklyn, their prices are lower than ordering direct and their customer service is top notch.
https://www.trainworld.com/shop-by-bran ... &scale=151

I'm looking forward to the P32 run they announced at the show. I'd like to pre-order a couple of the heritage units and maybe the current scheme one.

Oh by that I meant “how many Metro-North models will I talk myself into getting regardless of the price tag”. But yes, I would definitely order from TrainWorld. My dad bought stuff from them 20 years ago and they even held onto and fulfilled orders from 2 years prior (certain items were out of stock at the time) so their customer service is second to none. The 208 will be hard to pass up as it represents what the MNRR units could have (should have?) looked like 30 years ago.

Now if they make the Mafersa cars at some point in both VRE and ConnDOT… RIP bank account

@MACTRAXX

Thanks. Speaking of Retired Railfan Horn Guy, I actually met him at Croton-Harmon. I was railfanning waiting on the Beacon Excursion train when I heard his ICONIC voice. I turned around and said "Tim?" I actually met him a year ago at the NJ Transit / URHS NJ 40th Anniversary Excursion. I don't know him personally, but he's a cool guy to talk to whenever we run into eachother. If I ever decide to make a documentary on my train fandom, I'd like for him to narrate it. Well, him or Morgan Freeman .

Police were at the station, but only in the lot, as @NaugyRR mentioned. Now, I'm not 100% sure if they should completely prohibit railfanning during Open Houses (foamers would riot) but I think having 1 or 2 on the platforms would be a good idea. I've railfanned Croton Harmon twice before and it's a very quiet, yet relatively busy station. I'm normally the only railfan there when I go, just how I like it. But it was quite the opposite during the open house day.

@NaugyRR

I hear you 100%. The actual shop was great. But the platform had some foamers on it. I don't want to get on a soapbox about it. I'll just say, it's evident they have at best, zero people skills, and no clue on how to act in public. If you'll act with abandon at a busy train station with third rail on a narrow platform, it just shows me that my parents raised me properly. Fortunately you, I & most if not all people on this forum adhere to that.

As a brief disclaimer, I speak of those who CHOOSE abandon, not those who can't help themselves.
Put 2 & 2 together.

If you want an example (albeit in contrived meme form) watch this, please turn your volume down ->

NET (and NR): From both of your descriptions I decided to look at a close-up view of the Croton-Harmon
Station platforms on Google Streetview (with my device's limits) and I will ask:

From East to West: TRACK 3; Island Platform; TRACK 1; Island Platform; TRACK 2; Island Platform; TRACK 4
How are the three platforms lettered and/or otherwise identified at CRT Station?

I discerned that the two inner tracks (1,2) have the under-running third rail on the west side and the two
outer tracks (3,4) both have third rail on the outside away from the platform...Under-running third rail
has a cover directly on the rail with the text DANGER 700 VOLTS in yellow or white continuously...The shoe
contacts the bottom of the rail...The brackets are covered and the support to the ties is also insulated...

As I mentioned previously trainspotters were spending more time at the station with the limited time
allotment that Open House visitors had in the CH Shop...What the MTA Police may try is to restrict the
access to the platform ends - detain and fine or even arrest violators short of someone getting hurt...

Was the crowding problem at the north end of the east platform? In this instance there is NO third rail on
either side BUT with a crowded narrow platform there is a danger of someone falling into the track bed...

What this may do is make MNCR management look closer at CH Station crowd control in this instance...
Hopefully this does not affect future CH Shop Open House events...What any responsible rail enthusiast
does NOT want is the actions of a few ruin it all for the vast majority in terms of rail safety...MACTRAXX

P.S. Retired Railfan's CH Shop Open House video was placed by NH in the 40 year Heritage Wrap topic
on Page 5 (October 12)...The total running time is about one hour and timestamps are included...

NH2060 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 12, 2024 10:55 am Oh by that I meant “how many Metro-North models will I talk myself into getting regardless of the price tag”. But yes, I would definitely order from TrainWorld. My dad bought stuff from them 20 years ago and they even held onto and fulfilled orders from 2 years prior (certain items were out of stock at the time) so their customer service is second to none. The 208 will be hard to pass up as it represents what the MNRR units could have (should have?) looked like 30 years ago.

Now if they make the Mafersa cars at some point in both VRE and ConnDOT… RIP bank account

Lol I'm with you now. I am very fortunate that my wife is pretty lenient with the money I spend on trains. Not that I spend an ungodly amount, but it still adds up. My goal over the past several years has been to buy up whatever motive power and rolling stock I want so that when we buy a house that I'll only need to pay for layout materials. We're going to start shopping early next spring and I'm pretty happy with the collection I've amassed. I've also been good about purging and selling older trains, trains I have no interest in, got for free years ago, etc. I'm actually getting ready to list my older Metro-North and custom CT DoT Athearn P40's on eBay to go towards the new Rapido ones once they release. Same for the two older Rapido as-built FL9's with the Hancock chimes; I'd rather have the rebuilds that I grew up with visiting my grandparents in Dover Plains.

Somewhere in my storage of many trains I have one of the Walthers VRE Mafersa (I think they sold it as a Comet or a Horizon) cars that got released forever ago. I remember my aunt taking me to the hobby shop in Wolcott/Cheshire that had the caboose out front, and buying that and a Phase III F40 for my birthday one year. When I still used to have my layout while I was in high school and living at home I would run the Amtrak F40, the VRE Mafersa, and a Metrolink bilevel cab in a janky mismatched commuter consist; it looked more like a hospital move, but it was fun!

NortheastTrainMan wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2024 8:19 pm Police were at the station, but only in the lot, as @NaugyRR mentioned. Now, I'm not 100% sure if they should completely prohibit railfanning during Open Houses (foamers would riot) but I think having 1 or 2 on the platforms would be a good idea. I've railfanned Croton Harmon twice before and it's a very quiet, yet relatively busy station. I'm normally the only railfan there when I go, just how I like it. But it was quite the opposite during the open house day.

@NaugyRR

I hear you 100%. The actual shop was great. But the platform had some foamers on it. I don't want to get on a soapbox about it. I'll just say, it's evident they have at best, zero people skills, and no clue on how to act in public. If you'll act with abandon at a busy train station with third rail on a narrow platform, it just shows me that my parents raised me properly. Fortunately you, I & most if not all people on this forum adhere to that.

It's only been recently in the past few years, during post-COVID travel that I've started photographing and occasionally filming the trains we see and ride on our trips. I just use my phone, and if people like my pictures cool, if not, well, they're mostly for my own memories anyway! I'm usually in the same boat though, typically it's just me and my wife out and about with no other railfans around. Occasionally we'll bump into one, but they're usually pretty laid back or keep to themselves.

I hear you on the soapbox; the older I get I really try not sound like an ornery old bastard, but despite only being in my early thirties I still can't tell you how many times I catch myself shaking my head, saying "f---ing kids". I'm glad there's younger people getting into it, and it should be a hobby for all ages, races, creeds, etc. etc. etc., but like you said, we must've been raised better. And of course I've seen older foamers act the same way, the younger ones just seem, I dunno, louder? lol.

MACTRAXX wrote: ↑Sun Oct 13, 2024 11:04 pm NET (and NR): From both of your descriptions I decided to look at a close-up view of the Croton-Harmon
Station platforms on Google Streetview (with my device's limits) and I will ask:

From East to West: TRACK 3; Island Platform; TRACK 1; Island Platform; TRACK 2; Island Platform; TRACK 4
How are the three platforms lettered and/or otherwise identified at CRT Station?

I linked the video I shot from the platform that day, showing the signage (quality's not great, but I'm also no River Rail Photo either lol)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPGafmwRZ3E

Most of the crowding was towards the center to southern 2/3rds of the platform for 1 & 3. I wandered down to the southern end to film from the railing a couple times as it was more quiet, but that was my fill for the day lol.